Method of burning liquid fuels



. A. DOBLE.

METHOD OF BURNING LIQUID FUELS.

I APPLICAT'ON FILED SEPT-15, I917- 1 ,402,747. Patented Jan. 10, 1922.

.flbnerale x l I tonal:

resident of Detroit,

l*uels, of which unrrsn STATES PATENT OFFICE...

ABNER DOBLE, 0F DETRO IT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

DOBLE-DETROIT STEAM MOTORS 00., or DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE, METHOD OF BURNING LIQUID FUELS.

Application filed September 15, 1917.

To (all 'IIllO'HI it may concern:

States of Ameyica, and Wayne County, Michihave invented a certain newand use ul Methods of'liurning Liquid thefollowing is a specifizen ofthe United ga-n, Improvement in cation.

My invention heavy hydrocarbons, suclras kerosene and distillate, asfuel'in connection with the rapid generation of steam for use inthepropulsion of automobiles, and it is'niy purpose to instantly igniteand burn heavy hydrocarlmns from an initially cold state and withoutinitial gasification or pro-vaporization.

In the drawing I illustrate a mechanism by which I accomplish thisobject and my invention will be described with reference by way ofillustration-to this mechanism,

Referring to the drawing:

The figure is a view, partly in section, partly. in elevation and partlydiagrammatic, of a fuel ignition mechanism and burner illustrative ofone manner in which my invention may be carried out. p

I illustrate a portion of the combustion chamber or fire-pot A, which inpractice is bowl-shaped and positioned be neath a steam generator A of asteam driven automobile power plant. This combustion chamber is made ofor lined with'refractory material, and the fuel properly mixed with airis projected into it by means of the burner, mechanism which causescirculated and swirled in said chamber to bring about completecombustion of the fuel. The fuel burning mechanism extends into thischamber from one side thereof. I provide a tubular member 10 whichextends ture it comprises a casing horizontally into the combustionchamber and which is suitably bolted in position. The "outer end of thistube is connected to the horizontally turned- 'outlet' of an air withthe blower B and this tube together blower outlet form a'Venturi mixingtube. The blower delivers-volumes of air throng 1 the 'venturi passageand which supplies all of the air necessary tosu-pport combustion in thefire-pot. This blower may-bfof any suitable type for the purpose. n thisstruc- 12 having a rotary blade wheel 13 therein arranged to delivervolumes of air at comparatively low pres- Specification of LettersPatent.

relates to the art of burning bons such as the fuel to be violentlyterminals 25 J v Patented Jan. 10,1922. semi No. 191,5ea.

sure. The blower is driven .by a small electric motor C mounted at oneside of the easing and supplied with current from the battery 14 or anyother suitable source. One terminalof the battery is grounded at 15 andthe other connected by conductor 16 with one terminal of the motor. Theother terminal of the motor .is grounded at 17 b conductor l8.operatorsswitch 15) by which it may be controlled. Within the Venturitube at the The motor circuit inclu es an throat thereof is fuel nozzle-This nozzle is mounted (iii a post Qll-screwed into the wall of theblower-outlet. It has a'nozzle opening 2L at its rear end for theemission of the fuel, and this nozzle has a'cone-shaped member 22extending forwardly from the opening and forming a small chambersurrounding said opening. A small pin or projection 23 is positionedjust in front of the nozzle opening and when the fuel in liquidform isprojected from the nozzle opening under considerable pressure. itstrikesthis pin and is mechanically broken u and thus extremely finelyatomized. eavy hydrocarkerosene and distillate can, I have found inpractice he ignited by an elec tric spark from'an initially cold ornormal temperature condition by spraying the fuel in a finely atomizedstate and providing a mixture with air. A mixture of the character whichis rich in fuel and lean in air, although ignitable by an electricspark, is incompletely combustible, productive of soot and smoke andodor, and it will not r0- duce suflicient'volume and degree of lieatnecessary for the. production of steam to meet the horse-powerrequirements. This mixture which is capable of spark ignition thesprayingof the fuel under pressure from the nozzle and isolating thespray in its inception by the cone-shaped nozzle chamber so that itbecomesmixed with air only to alimited extent. While in this; conditionthe rich, finely atomized mixture is ignited by an electric sparkproduced at the" of a suitable spark is screwed into the nozzle supmrting post 20 with its electrodes positione just within the mouth ofthe'chambe'r 22. This spark may be pro'duc'edin any desired manner. Inthe structure shown it is produced by an ordinary sparking coil 26. ,Thesecondary windingof this coil is grounded at one terfore intimated, by

plug which I minal, and its other terminal is connected by conductor" 27with one terminal of the spark plug. The other spark plug terminal a isgrounded at 28. The primary winding of the fuel at normal temperature bymeans of a spark without pre-gasification or pre-hea'ting, however, Ichange the characteristics of the fuel by converting it into a gas,utilizing the heat of the spark ignited flame for this purpose.

The liquid fuel is supplied from a fuel 'tank33 by means of a small pump3tmounted upon and driven from the motor shaft,

and this pump provides'the necessary pressure onthe fuel for sprayingthe liquid from the nozzle. The pressure may be'supplied by any suitablemeans although the advantage of the motor driven pump is that the pumprunsonly when the motor and blower are running. The pump takes theliquid fuel, through the pipe and delivers it under pressure throughpipe 36 to the-chamber 37 ofa diaphragm valve' mechanism and thencethrough the pipe 38 to the nozzle. The valve chamber has a diaphragm 39which is acted upon by an adjustable spring device 40 andthisj'diaphra'gm has a long valve stem 41 extending through pipe 38.,

The valve stem is seated. in the nozzle opening and controls the flow of'fuel' therei through. The diaphragm isadjusted to respond and open thenozzle only when there is the proper pressureon the fuel. Thus themechanism is automatic to close the nozzle and prevent the flow .orleakage of fuel when the pump is not operating or providing sufficientpressure. The fuel pipe 36 includes a coiled portion 43 through whichthe fuel circulates on its way to the nozzle. This coil is positionedwithin the combustion chamber just in front of the Venturi tube where itis subject to the heat of the burning fuel, hence in passing throughthis heating coil the liquid will be converted into a gas and will issuefrom the nozzle as a gas and become mixed with the volumes of airsupplied by the blower.

In starting with the parts all cold however the liquid fuel will firstbe sprayed from the:

nozzle and instantly be ignited in this cold condition. The flame willplay upon the heating coil and gradually convert the liquid into a gaswhich will then be ignited by said initial flame and thereafter sustaincombustion and the continued gasification of the fuel. One extremelyimportant advantage of my invention is elimination of the difii-'culties and'unreliability of a constantly burn-- ing pilot which mustbe initially supplied with gasified fuel- By my method and apparatus thepre-heating and initial gasification of the fuel is avoided, the fuelcan be perature by an electric spark, igniting said mixture by anelectric spark, and, while said fuel is burning, gradually convertingthe liquid fuel into a gas by the heat of the flame before it emergesfrom said nozzle, and

continuing combustion by supplying said gas and volumes of air to sa1dflame.

Signed by me at Detroit, Mich., this 11 day of September 1917 I pABNER'DOBLE.

